Thank you for listening to Depiction's Media Radio. Welcome to Policy Rights to show
about government policy and human rights. Welcome back to Policy and Rights here in
Depictions Media Radio. I'm your host, Michael Cloggs, and we have a
recorded press conference from the United Nations with the Russian representative to the United Nations.
And I always remember this from growing up that Russia or then what was
the Soviet Union and the United States always being at odds that we were taught
how Russia was the evil ones and how communism is just so hateful, hurtful
to the Western way of life or as it were, the American or Canadian
way of life. And is that really really true? Well, I guess
it depends on on here you ask, on which side you ask. But
the point is is that we have to allow for other sides of opinion to
come forth, other opinions to to help us form what is a true story
to what is going on in our world. And while the um the Russian
Federation news outlets and everything, we're denying entry into the United States so that
they could attend a press conference at the United Nations is seemingly kind of off
when when we first look at it. But if we allow ourselves to look
at who they are through through a lens of trust and think about what they
are just simply trying to view a different part of the story so that they
can be told to the other people around them that instead of instead, instead
of that this country is evil, because the reverse story is also true,
that in Russian they could could be telling people how evil we are here in
the West, that we won't allow things to happen, that we are too
restrictive, and that well, the narrative it becomes, it comes to reverse.
And is it really true. Is the average person evil and wants to
hurt the the the people in the Russian Federation? I don't think so.
I don't think that's true. But when we started examine, when we only
get the point of view from the political figures at hand, that's where we
start to run into problems. Anyway, with all that being said, that
maybe the United States might have allowed the Russian networks in media networks and so
that they could report on what was being said. There are are things that
are happening in our world that the Russians have, the Russian Federation and their
government have a different point of view than the US, Canadian British governments have
about how things are being done, and they also have a different set of
allies, so it changes changes that narrative some and one one of those things
is is how Syria is being handled. Of course, the war between the
Russian Federation and the Ukrainian government, how that looks and is being played out.
And there are several other issues that in the next hour and a guess
about nine minutes, you're going to hear how the Russian Federation sees them versus
how our home governments actually see things going on. So why don't we listen
to what it is that they say with an open mind and maybe we might
start to hear some grains of truth happening that we can maybe kind of balance
things out a little bit. Does this mean that terror isn't happening and coming
from from groups in Iran? Does this mean that um Syria is still isn't
in trouble and the people still need aid. That's just two of the two
of the examples. And well as a third example, you know, there's
no denying that there are tanks running over, soldiers running around shooting at each
other in Ukraine and what we really need to see happening around the world is
peace happening. One other issue that m might be brought up in this particular
press conference is Israel and Palestine. So why don't we listen to what it
is the Federation has to say or especially on those particular four issues and form
an a new opinion about what may be having happening in the world and how
we might be able to bring about peace and end some of the war and
the fighting that is happening in our world right now. With the question and
the first goes to the UN Correspondent Association President, please Mariam Rahmatti, thank
you, thank you so much on the Alpha the Imitination correspond Association. Thank
you, Misa Minister for this based conference. A new question is you said
there, but Russia will not forget and will not forgive the US of denying.
Yeah, Russian journalists visas to come to the UN and follow your visitor.
What does it mean and can you elaborate on that place? Well,
it seems to me that today there was a statement delivered by our presentative and
today there was a statement from our presentative of the at the Committee and Information,
and of course you suspect that there would not speak a Russian right.
Maria has already at the Commitee and Information spoke at length in detail about this
issue. We believe that it is appalling what is transpiring here, All of
the conjurations about access to information, frame of the pressure, all those incantations
that were voiced by Western leaders, including of course the United States of America.
All of these were enshrined, of course in the Resolutions of the Human
Rights a Council of Decisions on the organization of a Security in Cooperation in Europe,
which were adopted in the early nineteen nineties, and at that time the
Soviet Union openly assigned on to those agreements. And now it has become inconvenient
for the West to have alternative viewpoints presence present, it is inconvenient for them
to residents of the planet, citizens of certain countries have access to facts,
that is inconvenient, facts which are not necessarily in line with the Western so
called narrative. Of course, the West fundamentally decided to trample upon media outlets
which are not subordinate to the West. Our envoys, ambassadors in various countries,
including in Washington, frequently provide specific data and information about discrimination against Russian
media outlets many years ago in France, for there is a denial of accreditation
for the Russian Art and Sputnik channels. They called these media outlets tools of
propaganda. Mister Kirby with respect to our journalists who were denied visa so to
participate in this part of our presidency, mister Kirby also said that to Russian
journalists are propagandists and nothing more than that. Without anything, they have nothing
to do. He said with American so called democratic of views, of freedom
of speech, of course, there's the First Amendment to the United States Constitution,
apparently means nothing in practice, and perhaps they would be useful to consider
how things are with frame of speech in the United States. I've heard that
Tucker Carlson has left Fox News. It's a curious news. What is this
related to one can only guess, but clearly the wealth of views in the
American information space has suffered as a result. So turning to our reciprocal measures,
we will certainly take this inappropriate conduct by the US leadership into account,
the inappropriate conduct of the State Department. They took the decision there, and
we will take this into account when the Americans need something from us, an
idea thanking yourself for me, So I'd like to ask you your views also
done what's happening there and also about the involvement of the Varduna group with the
rabid support forces. We asked Hay the leader of this group, about the
environment of Vardua with him and his forces, and he did not deny it.
And just a last course, accountable this group is it to the Russian
A love our body? Who are they accountable too? Thank you well with
respect of Wagner, this is a private military company. We repeatedly touched upon
this issue, including in this room. A few years ago, our French
colleagues, the heads of Diplomacy and the European Union, through Joseph Barrell,
issued col crivances towards US visa VR links to Molly's Central African Republic, and
they created some kind of a mini scandal with respect to the fact that the
government of Molly under circumstances when the French began to withdraw their operations from the
country and began to close their military basis in the south where the main military
the bag terrorist rights remained and the government of Molly in order not to be
left without defenses, they turned to the services of a private military company called
Wagner. That is their right, as is something which the molly in Foreign
Minister announced during a General Assembly meeting, and nobody has made this any secret
in both the sector African Republic and MOLLY as well as Sudan and a number
of other countries whose governments, whose legitimate authorities turn to for such service as
they have their right to do so. Let's not forget, if you are
concerned about this issue, to take a look at the internet. Take a
look at the number of private military companies which exist in the United States,
they exist in Britain and in France. There are dozens of them, and
many of them have for many years worked directly on our borders, including inside
Ukraine. And this also gives rise to significant questions now with respect to what's
happening in Sudan. I think that certainly this is a tragedy. People are
dying, their threats to diplomats and there are significant threats. We are aware
of this. We are following the situation today. Representatives of UNISF have requested
our embassy to somehow host and accommodate their staff because of the fact that they
are not in a safe location. I'm not certain how this can be done,
but we will tackle the situation. Let us recall the developments with Sudani's
statehood, first in a singular and then Sudan and South Sudan, and this
was all transparent before our very eyes. When our US colleagues made one of
their foreign policy priorities the division of Sudan into two parts. They turned to
us for the then President of Amara Bashir, for us to persuade mister Brashier
to reach an agreement for the conduct of free elections on voluntary separation and division,
and we, frankly speaking, thought that the Sudanese people, the peoples,
should make that decision, and ultimately the division took place. It was
separated into two parts. A South Sudan was created, and the Americans,
as the initiators of this divorce, so to speak, should have done everything
possible to help these new two states coexist, to develop their economies, to
provide for the welfare of their citizens. But the Americans didn't like something.
I won't delve into the details, but they imposed sanctions both against the leadership
of Sudan and against the leadership of South Sudan, and subsequently there were constant
demands being put forward through the IMF, International Monetary Fund and so on.
So this is a form of geopolitical engineering and it doesn't bring about any positive
results. I would propose that the main conclusion be drawn from this crisis.
Let's not interfere in Africans negotiations amongst themselves. Let's not seek to resolve our
own African issues, and let's not add any demands from abroad which failed to
reflect the interest of those countries African solutions to African problems. Thank you,
Minister lever of Michelle Nichols from Reuter's, thank you so much for the briefing.
I just wanted to ask you a little bit further about the Ukraine grain
deal and whether Russia has a response yet to the letter that the Sexuary General
has sent to President Putin suggesting a way forward for the extension and expansion of
this Ukraine grain deal. And China is the biggest recipient of the Ukraine grain
under that deal, So has China asked Russia to extend the deal? Well,
on China, I will say right away that we haven't been discussing this
issue with our partners from the People's Republic of China, including probably for purely
pragmatical considerations, given that with the People's Republic of China we have a shared
border across which there's export and import going on, and the Black Sea space
is not at all necessary for China to procure our grain and grain in general
from other countries that are adjacent to the Russian Federation Kaalakstan, for example.
As for the writer that the letter of the Secretary General conveyed to President Putin,
I hope that it didn't leak, because this is personal correspondence between the
leadership of the United Nations and the leadership and the leader of the UN.
A leader of a Muan member states if this paper was I if this correspondence
was disclosed, that would not be very appropriate. This would be reflective another
of another attempt to exert pressure on a situation, and this is not acceptable
that a situation that has not been resolved and is brought to a dead end
by Western colleagues. I would recall twenty to July of last year, this
Black Sea Initiative was agreed upon, it was signed, and the text explicitly
stated that this pertains to the export of grain and ammonia, and nobody recalled
ammonia before the day before yesterday, even though yesterday Antonio Guterres told me that
on the global markets there are acute shortages of fertilizer, specifically from the ammonia
group. Nobody thought about this, and up until very recently the last moment,
and the way that this deal quickly transformed from a Black Initiati vaccine initiative
to the Black Sea Grain initiative. From a humanitarian initiative, it transformed into
a commercial initiative. This is also something that gives rise to a significant number
of questions which all of us have consistently been talking about for all of this
time. We continue to draw attention to this situation. If you looked at
the statistics, less than three percent of the entire volume of grain that traveled
from Ukraine the Ian ports, less than three percent truly reached the poor countries
that are on the relevant A list of the World Food Program There Ethiopia,
Yemen, Afghanistan, Sudan incidentally, and Somalia. Everything else the eighty plus
percent, and we'll reach to high income countries or middle income countries. We
discussed this, We draw attention to this, and then there was a blatant
attempt by Ukrainian colleagues as part of their activities with a joint coordination center in
Nistanbul. They tried to create an artificial accumulation of of ships, and the
Ukrainian press there was there was there were reports about the Ukrainian regime taking bribes
to agree on the queue where a certain ship would be located, whether there
would be placed before others without those mechanisms brought taking mechanisms, we also drew
attention to the fact that concentrating completely and fully on the Ukrainian part of the
deal, our colleagues at the United Nations first and foremost forget that. Initially
Antonio Guterres proposed a package of that is inextricably linked, and he told me
yesterday that the UN Russia memorandum is not very concrete, and we signed on
to this because the mimorandum contains an obligation for the Secretary General and his staff
to do everything possible to lift obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizer in Russian
grain. I can't say that the UN has not been undertaking efforts in the
right direction. On the contrary, on Ted Secretary General and Gatonio Antonio guitarists
and the Deputy on the Secretary Channel for humanitarian Affairs has been They all have
all been advocating this. They have sought to try to reach agreement with the
countries that have announced illegitimate, you know, lateral sanctions against the Russian Federation,
but there has been practically no result. They will Selho's Bank, which
is the main bank that services are agricultural exports, it has been expelled from
the Swift system and there are no plans to bring them back in and then
exchange. The proposal for US are one off alternatives, so to three American
banks. The Secretary General had a request to replace Swift and to help rule
Selho's Bank service export operations for a few months. A few months elapsed,
and indeed one of the banks kindly consented to one operation to finance one operation.
But when we are told let's on that principle continue our efforts, that's
not serious either. You want to systemically resolve the issue of food shortages on
the global market, and then there's a need to simply bring our bank back
into the fold of the swift system. And if you want every time for
US and the UN Secretary General to run back and forth and to plead with
any given US financial structure, for them to be so magnanimous, then you
understand that cannot work and it will not work. There are still problems with
insurance and yesterday I was told by the Secretary General that the rates drop significantly
after his contacts with London Lloyd. But this is all focused on maintaining and
serving control over everything that's happening, not to prevent our fertilizer are grain from
freely reaching markets, and on the basis of market mechanisms have to prevent them
from entering certain countries. And this of course complicates the work of the World
Food Program which has been helping the poorest countries. In addition to what we
have been talking about, we have nearly two hundred thousand tons of fertilizer and
they were seized and the ports of the European Union. Last August, President
Putin publicly stated our position according to which those owner companies of the fertilizer provide
them on a voluntary basis free of charge to the poorest countries through the World
Food Program mechanism. This was back in August, the first consignment of twenty
thousand tons from the two hundred thousand with Malawi only six months later. Now
it is with great difficulty that there are discussions of another nine consignments twenty four
thousand tons each for Kenya and Nigeria. And this all takes time. This
is all fraught with bureaucratic red tape, with additional costs. And with respect
to our part, I now return to that question our part of the deal.
Yes, we see that the Secretary General and his colleagues have been making
efforts, but there have been practically no results, unless we are to view
as results the hope, the glimmer of hope that instead of normal provisions of
the necessary products to global markets, there will be a need to each time
manually take the effort and plead with American and European ports branks and other structures
insurance companies to request that they be magnanimous. That's not the deal we reached
on twenty two July last year when we supported the Secretary General's initiative, which,
as he has reiterated, is package based in nature. A package has
many components. So unlike you, I cannot be so confident in describing what
is contained in the correspondence from guitarist Putin, because this correspondence is of course
not for the water audience, but it is intended for our president. And
the same letters were sent to Ukraine and Turkey as far as I understand.
But the reaction to this correspondent will arise after look the recipient reads it.
It doesn't sound like you see a lot of hope for an extension of the
Black Sea grind deal. You must be as ecologist so Russia, Victor Rich.
Today Joe Biden announced that he will run for a second term as the
president of the United States, and we have already heard comments from Republicans who
have also announced that they will have Donald Trump running for a second term,
and they say that they are seriously concerned that this could even lead to a
world World war. What is your view? What is our view of who
would be more profitable as the next president of the United States or is it
all the same to us? Valentine. Unlike journalists, who in their line
of duty must publicly analyze events that are taking place, the Russian government does
not interfere in the affairs of other states. Yes, thank you very much,
thank you Foreign Minister. The briefing, it's Pamela Fault from CBS News.
You talked about yesterday and a year ago about the inadmissibility of the expansion
of NATO. And yet because of the war, Finland has become a member,
Sweden's next and the NATO Secretary General is supporting Ukraine's membership. Was it
a miscalculation and where do you see the reasons now for the war since the
NATO border with Russia has now doubled. Thank you. NATO never had any
intention of stopping and if you take a look at how events unfolded in recent
years, you'll see it. There was a very active process of merging when
it came to the military affairs of the EU and NATO, and they recently
signed a declaration pursuit to which the EU is essentially delegating response ability for the
security of all of its members states to NATO and guaranteering the EU country territories
would be provided for the needs of NATO even though they're not members of NATO.
And Sweden and Finland were in the front wines of this. They were
increasingly taking part in NATO military exercises and other actions that were meant to synchronize
the military programs of NATO members and neutral states. So here, well,
it's just a nice figure of speech that Russia sought to prevent NATO's expansion.
It's not that we wanted to do this. We believed that it was necessary
to prevent this, but we've also promised us on several occasions. Nonetheless,
those were lies, as we all know now, just as they lied subsequently.
But the Minsk agreements and many other things, and then without so much
as blushing, admitted to the that those relize the claim that Russia tried to
prevent NATO's expansion and only sped it up as a result. As probably how
you see things or how you try to describe things from your end of the
situation. We also have our own takes and our own views, and the
unbiased assessments that our political scientists as well does those abroad make are that is
a NATO sought to break Russia apart, but in the end it only made
it stronger, brought it closer together. So let's not make any hasty conclusions
now as to what this will all end in We have clearly stated our goals,
and we very clearly reaffirm them, including in our Security Council statement yesterday.
As to what the US is seeking to achieve, well, I read
materials in the local press here, articles by analysts. I talked to some
of my old friends political science as friends, and they are increasingly asking themselves
as well, what's going to happen next when it comes to our goals.
We laid them out very openly and honestly. As to the goals of the
US, NATO, the EU, whether it's pumping Ukraine full of weapons or
now we hear this ridiculous theory about making sure that Ukraine can successfully counter attack
now and then ask Ukraine and Zelenski to begin negotiations. This is the logic
of a schizophrenic. We want there to be no threats imitating to our security
from Ukraine from the terry tour of Ukraine, but these threats have been piling
up there for years and years, especially after the coup of February twenty fourteen.
We also want for the people who consider themselves a part of the Ussian
language, part of the Russian culture, religion that they have been practicing their
whole lives through the Ukrainian Orthodox char Church. We want these people to not
have to face discrimination, persecution and the threat of extermination. Zelenski has some
adviser by the name of Podolak who has stated that we'll take back Crimea and
eradicate, eliminate everything Russian in Crimea. Is this what the US supports?
When American political figures and other figures to say that we cannot fail to support
Ukraine because Ukraine is fighting for our values and our democracy. Is this what
democracies are? These the values for which NATO is prepared to fight to the
last Ukrainian For many years we have drawn everyone's attention to what has been going
on with minorities in Ukraine and the Russian minority in particular. Laws were adopted
prohibiting education in any language other than Ukrainian, although they did make an exception
for EU languages, which once again shows just how much this whole campaign has
targeted against Russian culture. There was a ban on media, both those broadcasting
in Ukraine from Russia as well as those who that belonged to Ukrainians but broadcast
in the Russian language and held opposition views. Millions of books in Russian have
been thrown out of library. Some of those were burnt in town squares,
just as the Nazis did back in their day. And practically all cultural contacts
between our countries have been as well Russian culture and what is happening. Take
a look also what is happening with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. We have addressed
the UN Secretary General, OC leadership and other institutions, and we did not
get a very strong reaction. And this is similar to what happened when the
coup took place in twenty fourteen. Will Be and began ask questions to the
French, the Germans, the Pools. We asked, how is it that
you promised you guarantee just twenty four hours before the coup that you would find
a settlement. You signed a document to the success to the suctent and they
just said, well, sometimes democratic processes can take on excessive forms and go
too far, and that's it. And the same approach was used to justify
and excuse any actions on the part of the Kiev regime, even as the
US confidently continued to stay that they would continue supplying Ukraine what weapons to defeat
Russia because Ukraine is upholding the ideals of democracy and Western values. If this
is what you're fighting for, and of course I don't mean you personally and
specifically a bit. If this is what the West is fighting for, then
it should be all the more clear what we stand for and what we will
oppose to the very end than thank you, Matthew Chance from miss Lavrov,
could you give us some details about what contact you may have had with US
officials about the fate of US citizens being held in Russian jails? Have any
contacts been had, have they've been sought? And also, secondly, there
have been prisoners swaps in the past. Can load? Yeah? Sorry,
there have been prisoner swaps in the past. What are you looking for in
exchange? For Paul Wheelan and Evan Gershkovic on the agreement between presidents of Biden
president Putin, this is an agreement or add When they met in June of
twenty twenty one in Geneva, a special channel was created for discussions of issues
related to detain citizens of the Russian Federation and the United States and detained American
citizens of the Russian Federation. I won't to open up any disclosing a secret.
If I'm to tell you that this channel did not provide for involvement of
journalists, and it also did not provide for a public disclosure of any situations
for the purposes of exerting pressure on serious, meaningful professional negotiations which are under
way in the Russian Federation. There are several Russian American citizens who are serving
sentences for various crimes, including the individuals you have mentioned. I refer to
Paul Wheelan and Evan Gershkovic. They were detained on when they were committing a
crime, receiving material that is a state secret, and the vociferous pathos laced
statements about journalists by definition not being able to commit crimes or something which we
reject. There are many examples of this, and somebody has already done attention
to the situation when around Gershkovic there was a campaign that was unfolding. Nobody
mentions Julie Massange anymore. Nobody mentions our citizen, a journalist, Maria Bouzina.
She spent two years in a prison here simply for engaging in journalist and
participating in the work of non government organizations. We have approximately sixty people here
who are serving sentences here and in most cases, the accusations are dubious,
and on a number of occasions, in the abduction of our people from Europe
from other countries, which the Americans do, on a number of occasions,
they didn't deign to comply with the requirements of the Bilateral consul Or Convention,
under which if they have any suspicions about Russian citizens, then they need to
be not abducted. It's done in Hollywood films. But they need to turn
to the Russian Federation and they need to lay out their concerns. So once
again I would like to state that the channel, but the discussion of these
matters exists and this is work that is not public in nature, and publicity
here will only complicate the process for reasons which are understandable, and there's no
need to tell you professionals about why. Well, thank you a minister here.
This has been the Turkish news agency Anadola. Recently, President the Turkish
President invited President Putin to Turkey for the inaguration of Turkey's first nuclear power reactor,
which was built by a Russian energy company. Thus, President Kittin plant
to visit Turkey on the twenty seventh of April. Thanks well, this will
be announced as soon as possible. I believe that presidents have an understanding about
the importance of such a meeting. Just quickly, back to the Ukraine agreement.
I'm Caleb Moppin from RT. I'm asking Russia has repeatedly pointed out that
Ukraine is not fulfilling its obligations under the grain deal. And my question is,
does Russia intend to withdraw from the deal or is there is there a
reason for staying if they're not going to fill their obligations. It's not that
Ukraine is not complying with their obligations. Ukraine has nothing to do with the
part of the deal that pertains to Russian fertilizer and Russian grain. These parts
of the deal are blocked by Western sanctions and and specifically to overcome these sanctions
and to lift the obstacles on the path to the export of grain and fertilizers
to the market. This is what the Secretary General is working towards. He
signed on in the memorandum, to do everything possible to achieve those goals,
and it seems that the impossible is being We have not yet seen that.
And with respects to the prospects of the deal. I think our colleagues have
mentioned this. Antonio Guterres yesterday conveyed a piece of correspondence to President Putin and
this will be reported on and the response will be report The Czech president recently
made statements to the effect of Beijing doesn't want peace in Ukraine, that they
benefit from the status quo. What is Moscow's position on this? I can't
comment on this kind of a statement, which has nothing to do with the
work of a normal political representative. I do apologize. Joseph Barrell was mentioned.
You mentioned check here. I remember the European Union, which for now
exists, and Joseph Barrell announced that they that they would develop relations with other
countries on the basis of how those other countries relate to the Russian Federation in
China. This shows and this this is a reflection of the current mindset and
mentality of European diplomats with r Ce Ireland, there were nearly eighty thousand Ukrainian
refugees currently in Ireland. Do you apologize to them for having to leave their
homes fleeing your war? And secondly, is China your friend? And if
it is your friend, why aren't they sending you weapons? Are why aren't
they sending you weapons China? Aren't? Aren't you know? This is a
laughter through tears because nobody takes an your pleasure from how the events transpiring affect
the lives of normal people. But the fact that the lives of ordinary people
needs to draw attention, need to be considered, not just when they're outside
of borders and when they present an inconvenience to host countries, but the lives
of ordinary people should be considered by politicians when these lives, for many long
years, on a day to day basis, through legislation and in practice,
are discriminated against, when they are intimidated and threatened. Nobody could care less
when we were drawing attention to the fact that these laws cannot be adopted.
The Ukrainian Constitution enshrines all rights for national minorities, political rights, religious rights,
linguistic rights, and the list goes on. And when they adopted a
law prohibiting and banning those rights, prohibiting the Russian Federation, Russian language and
banning those rights. At that point we are members of the Council of Europe.
We turned to the Venice Commission. There is this body which deals with
an analysis of legislation of member states of the European Council to show that it
aligns with European Convention. Council of Europe. Through this Venice Commission is shoot
a verdict that Ukraine needs to adopt a new separate law on national minorities.
They adopted this last December and this last day said that they're guarantees for all
rights of national minorities in that in so far as as stipulated under existing legislation,
so insofar as they were dwindled down to virtually zero. So this is
completely arbitrary justice. Now turning to refugees in Ireland, I'm unaware. There's
a great deal of information, including Western European Eastern European information media outlets,
that from all of them really needed and that they're not necessarily in such need.
There are some reports about somebody stealing something, or a wife leaving husband
or and so on. I don't want to insult anybody, but on artary
refugees began to appear a lot earlier. First and foremost, this is a
consequence of the war that the key of regime unleashed against their own people in
the East of the country. They unleashed the war only because of the fact
that the people of Crimea and the east of Ukraine refused to recognize the coup
and they told these guys, leave us alone, we want to determine our
affairs in our own way, and for this they were labeled terrorists and a
war was unleashed against them. Millions of people then fled to the Russian Federation.
I can't recall anybody here in this hall or and other other press conferences
with the participation of Western journalists being interested in this aspect of the situation.
And over the past year year and a half we've also been receiving refugees from
those regions which remain under the key of regime's control. And you are from
Ireland, it's very good because I from time to time I use this argument.
If in Ireland the English language were to be banned, how would British
view that? It is inconceivable, completely inconceivable. But in Ukraine the Russian
language can be banned and they can publicly say go back to Russia if you
if you align yourself with the Russian culture. This is what Zensky said along
before our special military operation. I believe it was CNN. During an interview
on CNN, he was asked what he thinks of people who live on that
side of the line of contact, and he responded, well, there are
people, there are species. And this leader of democracy World democracy continued,
if somebody in Ukraine feels themselves to be a part of Russian culture, my
advice, for the sake of the future of your children and your grandchildren,
go off to Russia. That is written in the text. And about the
Neo Nazi Azolf Regiment back in twenty thirteen in Washington, even in Congress there
was it was specifically designated as a structure that should not receive American financing.
And he was asked about that, the Azov Azov Battalion who are marching with
the Nazi flags bearing a lot with SS division insignia. He said, well,
we have many of these. They are as they are full stop.
So those values which Zenianski has been upholding in the Western world in the war
against Russia, these values also include such things I think we I had hoped
we had long rid ourselves of. But a minute Europe once again embraced those
traditions that had been prevalent in in the past. Well, mister m Broon
has many goals like increase its goals all the time. But the main goal
in nineteen forty five was to prevent World War three, and for seventy or
seventy five years we've been able to you know, has been able to reach
this goal. I heard your speech yesterday at the Security Council and looks like
you're not confident. I don't think you're confident anymore that this institution can prevent
another World war. So my question, he's why you're not confident and what
the Secretary General does I have any goal because for example, Lula the president
of Brazil that you just you just visited Brazil, it's came up. It's
still a Christian thesis. Yeah. The question he is why the Secretary General
didn't is we're not seeing him doing the same thing the others do and coming
up with a plan. The General un he's not coming with a plan for
peace because you are not going to even h look at it, or he's
not doing it because he can't do it. Well, why don't you ask
him? I don't know. I can only tell you, but that's sorry,
okay. Uh. Regarding who it is that's calling on World War three.
President Biden. I won't be able to quote him precisely, but he
has said that if we help you create win, then we will prevent world
War three. If you analyze the statement of your own president, well,
do you or do you only listen to my statements in the Council Some time
ago, then UK Prime Minister list Trust said that she would not hesitate to
push the red button. France. I think it was Jean leeve Ludrea who
was the Foreign minister the time, and when he heard all of these statements,
he said that France also has nuclear weapons. And then the head of
the aviation forces of Germany has said that we're prepared for nuclear war. We're
not afraid of President Putin's threats. And this was all at a time when
we had not said a word about World War three. I will recall that
it was US back during President Trump's who proposed that the US at the highest
level and officially reaffirmed the Gorbachev Reagan's statement about Russia and the US or the
USSR and the US as it was at the time, are confident that a
nuclear war cannot be won and it must never be waged. And we proposed
this doing the same once again under Donald Trump, we did not succeed.
The US side, Well, if they were prepared to discuss it at all,
they had a number of caveats, which of course made it lose all.
Meaning under President Biden are two presidents Biden and Putin made such a statement.
And then it was US once again who took the initiative to have a
similar statement about the inacceptability of nuclear war to be adopted at the highest level
by all five nuclear weapons states. So when this topic is raised, everyone
immediately begins pointing their finger that Russia, claiming that Russia's bringing the world to
the brick of World War three. Well, you know, we like to
say that everybody about what's bothering them the most. And so all of these
statements about well, if Ukraine loses, World War three is unavoidable. Like,
I hope that the people making these claims are in their sound mind in
the end, that they show responsibility. Good Bush and Rea News. Two
questions, if you allow. The first has to do with the Israeli delegation
and the Jordan pr step for me today were their communications with Israel before the
meeting that could indicate that such a decision would be made by the Israeli delegation
to leave the meeting. And the second question has to do with the most
recent statement by the Deputy Head of the Defense of the uk who said that
hundreds and thousands of muscles, including impoverished one with a partnershed iranium, have
already been sent to Ukraine. What is your response to such a statement regarding
today's meeting, I cannot, unfortunately comment on the details because when we became
the President of the Council and discussed the schedule of meetings and the topics of
meeting, there were no objections to having the meeting on the Middle East,
including Palestine. Today, today the representative of Israel asked rhetorical questions very emotionally
about how Russia would feel if there was an anti Russia meeting held on May
ninth, which is a victory day. I've been working at the UN.
I worked at the UN for ten years, and we held meetings on May
ninth discussing all sorts of issues. We also held meetings and other holidays that
were important to other member states. That's just the nature of the organization.
If we exclude every single date that every member state would like to leave free
on a calendar. Well, you understand how very few days left to work
with. But the representative of Israel said that they could not take part in
an anti Israel event on such a day. And well, I think the
answer lies in the fact that this was not an anti Israel meeting. It
was a meeting how pursuant to an agenda item that has been on the Security
Council's agenda for decades, and the Palestinian question is one of the most protracted
conflicts that has not been solved, cannot be solved by anyone or anything.
And now the agreements Security Council resolutions are being avoided and Palestines are being promised
certain economic benefits in exchange for giving up their claims for an independent state.
So this isn't in the anti Israel events. As I stress in my statement,
the meeting seeks to ensure the implementation of the initial decisions made by the
UN that were meant to ensure the Palestinians right to create their own state and
at the same time the right of Israel to security within its borders and a
lack of threats to its security overall. In the region. This is what
the meeting was about, not condemning Israel. We also heard lots of criticism
today regarding those terrorist acts that are carried out against Israeli, as everyone is
well aware of this. So that is how I would answer your first question,
and if you could remind me of the second, and yes, when
it comes to depleted uranium, we've already addressed this item repeatedly. Whoever may
claim that depleted uranium is not radioactive and that it's not included in relative a
list, well, there are lists, and then there are facts, and
there are interviews with people who suffered, for example, in the former Yugoslavia
from depleted uranium. You can find these interviews online on our television stations,
on Western stations as well in Italy veterans of the combat that took place.
They are fighting the Milashevitch regime, as was said at the time, So
one needs to be aware of one's share of responsibility in this. And well,
the UK is on an islands, so maybe for them it's less important
where this depleted uranium ends up rating or not radiating whatever it may contain.
Lady, thank you, marm Amanda at CNBC after February twenty fourth by many
Talis, Russia is the most sanctioned country in the world. Do you think
Western sanctions are working? And can your country withstand more economic pressures? It
was a night's emotional principle. We've already adapted. We adapted rather quickly.
I remember back in twenty ten, I think Barack Obama said that Russia's economy
was already in shreds. Well, if the desires there, and it seems
to persist and it doesn't change regardless of whatever administration is in power. We've
long ago drawn the conclusion that we need to rely on our own efforts and
of those that we can reach agreements with. When it comes to those who
lie, who constantly deceive others and attempt to achieve a unilateral advantage by legitimate
means, we will no longer rely on them. Some Western companies that have
been kicked out of Russia by their government, who complied with those government decisions,
are now trying to come back, and our government has commented on the
sation situation. We're not sure that we necessarily to address this right away.
Let the niche that has been freed up be taken up by our own businesses.
We can develop our own economy harnessing our own resources, material resources given
to us by history and by God, not through certain virtual services or artificial
domination of the dollar and dependency on the dollar. And by the way,
the fact that the US has launched the d dollarization process, and that this
process is now with great alarm being analyzed, including by local political scientists and
economists, local US political scientists and economies. This is a fact. If
I recall, the share of the dollar in world transactions fell from fifty five
to forty seven percent, so it's some eight percent over the course of a
year. That's quite a significant drop. And the transition to national currencies and
bypassing the yend the dollar, the euro, and the transition to digital currencies
is now irreverse abrolem. What happens with the innitary international monetary system going forward,
or including the IMF and the world bag that's a very big question.
The process has been launched. The US has proven that they were not telling
the truth one for many decades. After Nixon's abolishment of the gold standards,
they claimed they said, well, don't worry, even without being backed by
gold, this isn't our dollar. This is our shared common global currency that
will ensure the smooth functioning of all the mechanisms of the global economy. And
now that they have proven that they easily, at the drop of a hat,
can reject the very tenants that they have been advancing as the foundation of
the global economy, including fair competition and the sanctity of private property, a
rejection of unilateral protectionist measures, and so on and so forth. These are
all things that the globalization model was based on that the world essentially took up
and be on basing their own plans and carrying out their plans on the basis
of globalization. Whereas now globalization no longer has any prospects in the foreman which
was conceived receiving a fragmentation, a regionalization, and these are processes that we
are feeling and are actively participating in as part of the Shanghai Cooperational Organization,
the Eurasian Economic Union, agreements between the Eurasian Economic Union in China, and
within bricks where President Lula, who has been mentioned today, is interested in
preparing for the upcoming summit that will be held in the summer, preparing a
concept policy notes about how to gain independence from the whims of those who have
been governing the international financial system so far, Registry with China's Central Television.
First of quick follow up on the grain deal. You just talk a lot
about the nature, whether it's a commercial or humanitarian. Do you think that
Russian has been food in the beginning to sign this deal? And my question
is you talk a lot about a new world order which has been resonated yesterday
by the member states like Brazil. Can you tell us why the international multipolar
world order is better than the current one, especially for the rule based order
by some of the Western colleagues. And the most importantly, how you're going
to persuade your Western colleagues to believe that. Thank you shoot well on the
deal. I will reiterate that it was not called the grain deal. It
was called a Black Sea initiative, and in the text itself, that text
itself of the agreement stated that this agreement applies to the expansion of opportunities to
export grain and fertilizer. No, I don't suspect that Secretary General. I
certainly can't expect him of having tried to have a fooled us, of having
being deceptive when he proposed a yearly one hundred percent certain that he acted sincerely.
I know Antonio Gutarsh very well, and I can assert this with confident
confidence. It's another matter that his honest and persistent efforts, which were geared
towards persuading those who imposed sanctions to make an exception at least for agricultural export
of grain and export and fertilizer, these efforts, unfortunately were unproductive, which
I spoke about at length to day. Already now turning to the question of
how to persuade Western colleagues, how to convince them of the importance of forging
a multipolar world order, I will not be persuading them. We have been
setting out our position, the People's Republic of China, Brazil, many of
others have been setting out their positions, and we have been proposing that we
base ourselves beyond what is enshrined in the United Nations Charter, that we all
have equal rights, and that we all need to strive to achieve a balance
of interests and to collectively resolve global problems. And probably the best way to
persuade Western countries of the fact that the multipolar world order is already taking shape
is simply not to get in the way of a historic process. They are
trying to intervene in this process by leveraging sanctions against the Russian Federation naturally,
which nobody had ever seen or could even imagine. But this is a matter
that has been resolved for us. We have every opportunity not to depend on
this kind of conduct which has demonstrated of the Western colleagues, who have demonstrated
themselves not to be worthy of negotiating with or reaching agreement with. I've heard
about semiconductors being prohibited, those sanctions being imposed on China. They're no longer
allowed to sell them. And at the same time their demands of South Korea
that it not replace the replaced semiconductor of revisions from Europe in the US with
its own supplies. Though what their preparations are underway for a new round of
a war for global dominance, or more accurately, a war to attempt to
maintain global dominance. This can probably slow down the natural process of the establishment
of a multipolar world order, but not for long. At the historic level.
I don't think that will succeed. All of these claims and grievances.
As Joseph Barrell mentioned the heavenly garden as he views the West surrounded by Jungles.
While beyond this being racism and Nazism, this is a reflection of that
very same philosophy which is nefarious, malicious for all of human kind, including
for the bearers themselves of this philosophy. President Makron after a visit to Beijing,
since we're talking about China. After the visit to Beijing, he said
that Europe needs to be independent. He said that there need all allies,
there is no need to follow the will of the US in every issue,
and he mentioned Taiwan that it is not a European the theme. Of course,
parathetically, it meant that you the supposition was that Ukraine is a European
issue, so it meant that your Ukrane was aging war through the Ukrainians.
But after Makron said this, Burrell, I believe it was just yesterday advanced
an initiative. The initiative for the European Union to send its military naval forces
is to the Taiwan. Straight what does this mean? This means that in
Europe, either those who support Burrell's logic, either they have lost in any
shred of independence that had left or they didn't reach an agreement there about what
their united position would be. I have digressed from your question, but of
course the multipolar world is objectively taking shape, and what the ultimate configuration will
be, that's something I don't know at this point. Many, including yesterday
during the meeting, mentioned that the G twenty, that the G twenty could
become some kind of a template for a governance mechanism. I think that it
would be wiser to base ourselves in the United Nations Charter, with the understanding
that in order to reflect new trends, to reflect new realities, there will
be a need to initiate Security Council reform and possibly ultimately this could be something
having to do with reflective the composition of G twenty or something reminiscent of the
G twenty. But definitely there needs to be the eradication of the manifestation of
the clear underrepresentation of African and Latin American countries. H. Maria, this
is me. I'm Mamadi Afghanistan International. I have a one question regarding Afghanistan.
As you know, the Taliban recently have banned women from working at the
UN offices. The Secretary General is traveling to do what to meet with the
special envoys regarding Afghanistan. What do you think the next step of the international
community be regarding Afghanistan? And also one question about JCPLA. Do you think
JCPOA is dead? Thank you, suld An Afghanistan. Yes, we supported
the Secretary Channel's initiative to the first and second of May to convene a meeting
in Doha special representatives including a large number of Western countries. All of last
year and during this year, we have been addressing Afghanistan in such formats as
neighbor countries. Just recently there was a meeting held of foreign ministers of Afghanistan's
neighbors in Uzbekistan. Last year there was a meeting held in the People's Republic
of China, and in parallel there have been there has been the quartet Russia,
China, Pakistan and Iran. They have been working and we invited India
as well. We want this quintet to be constituted as something of a core
for the format of neighboring states. We have maintained the Moscow former of consultations.
Incidentally, the United States in the past had participated, then they became
capricious and they began to complain. After the developments in Ukraine, they withdrew
from the format. Then it was a Russia. There was the Trio which
was joined by Pakistan. This format was also cast aside and dissolved, but
somehow to bring the West into the process to facilitate settlement in Afghanistan. There
is a conference being convened by the Secretary General which we will participate, and
of course we think that the West should not step away or walk away from
discussions, because the West has had a presence for two decades in Afghanistan and
it has done nothing to improve economic opportunities in Afghanistan. Narcotics production has skyrocketed
there and the pace remains at staggering high level. The Taliban have tried to
prohibit this and we are support this. But for Afghanistan's development, first and
foremost, money is necessary, which the United States has ceased. They have
arrested the assets and they refused to release them for the needs of the population.
And not only does the West need to restore those assets Afghan assets to
the Afghan people when the conditions are right for this, but they also need
to consider compensating for the damage wrought on Afghan statehood, Afghan economy and at
the Afghan population by themselves. We believe that the Taliban our reality, reality
on the ground, and there's a need to talk with them. At the
same time, we will not recognize this UA government until they comply with their
honor, their own pledges, which at the international community has been have been
recognized, specifically until they ensure inclusivity in the governing structures, not just inclusivity
at the ethnic level, but also the political level. Presently in the Taliban
government as they tell us they're Uzbeks, Tajects, Hazaras. That's true,
but all of these ethnic representatives of all Taliban at the political level and for
civilian society, of course, it is very important for there to be strong
representation in political forces and for this to be provided, and there are other
criteria for a legal representation. Everybody talks about the key human rights requirements,
including the rights of women and girls. Of course, this will be discussed
during the conference which Antonio Guts is convening. That's not a question for us.
We believe that this is an agreement and the resumption of this was this
an agreement was arrived up long ago and right now for some reason, European
countries have lost enthusiasm. They're no longer enthusiastic, and the Americans, to
various sources, have already anonymously been stating that they need to try to find
something else. I don't know. It seems to me that this is a
huge mistake to let the opportunity slip away, The opportunity to revive this neil
should not deal should not be allowed to slip away, especially given that relations
are normalizing among Arab countries. Between Arab countries and Iran. Saudi Arabian particular
support of the People's Republic of China has restored relations. This is a process
which is very healthy and in principle we believe that in the Gulf region certain
mechanisms for cooperation, transparency, confidence buildings should be established. However, at
the present juncture, it's not up to Iran or US or People's Republic of
China. The full revival of the deal does not depend on any of us.
Those who destroyed it need to revive it. If there's any chance,
then that would be in that form. Based on our assessments that document which
was agreed upon last year, this document reflects that objective attempts to introduce new
requirements which did not exist in the initial JCPOA text. These attempts, of
course, complicate the process and they reflect that same policy which we were already
talking about today, to attempt through blackmail or to secure unilateral advantages from the
Arabic daily. Mister minister, you spoke about the golden billion. About golden
billion, you spoke about it, and do you anticipate in the future to
see that the world is not only one golden billion, but eight golden billion.
And the second is about the two state solution. Everyone repeated this slogan
two state solution. You know, I think, do you still believe there
is any chance we are chance to have an independent, contiguant, sovereign Palestinian
state? Thank you New Years. Well, I think that we shouldn't give
up. We are currently bearing witness to certain attempts to to remove the political
aspects of the Palestinian question and to focus on the proposals of certain economic benefits
for the Palestinian people. Apparently this is a something of a bribe here.
You have financial means, but how about you forget about independence, about statehood?
And I can't understand the logic here. Today there was a mentioned was
made the permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, and in his emotionally
charged statement, he defended the right of Israel to have a Jewish state.
But if that's the case, then what about the Palestinians. Then they need
their state. This is a recognition of the fact that the two state solution
is the only way to undermine the essence, undermine Jewish essence of Israel,
which Israel is defending. So I do believe that common sense will prevail and
cooler heads will prevail, and when an opportunity will emerge not to consider electoral
considerations, then there will be a possibility to deal with this meaningfully. Why
how can we not consider electoral issues, what situations? When every two years
one focuses on elections and reelections on a billion I mentioned yesterday. Of course
this is arrogant, it is impolite. What is inscribed in the resolutions of
narrogant of NATO and the European Union. It's pure arrogance. These are all
the people who say black lives matter, Yes, yes, thank you.
May greetings mister minister Lucis, are you personally involved in any of the negotiations
that would release prisoners in America and in Russia for example. Well, Evan
Kersh covid, how you personally involved? And I have a little quest,
which is it looks like the Ukraine ignition in Jomato is not very realistic,
despite what some people have said, but as a member of the EU,
it may be more feasible opinion on that. As for the first question,
the answer is simple no. Regarding the second question, well, I can't
make a decision on behalf of the EU, but we see how that organization
is becoming militarized at a record rate and turning into an aggressive entity with the
declared goal of containing the Russian Federation. If you look at how regularly the
President of Serbia states his concerns about the demand to join and sanctions against Russia
and recognize the independence of Kosakvo, disregarding and ignoring the fate of the Serbs
who live in the north part of that territory and have been living there for
hundreds of years. This is what the EU looks like currently. If you're
carrying out an anti Russian policy, then you have excellent chances. But i'd
be curious to see at the situation with Serbia, which I just mentioned,
with Turkia, who for many years has been in negotiations, there are those
in the EU who do want to adopt to allow Ukraine to join on an
expetited basis, and that will just show that it's nothing to do with meeting
criterias. A geopolitical game, pure and simple of tacking on as much territory
as possible while it's up her grabs. Well, that's for them to decide.
But the fact that there is very little difference currently between the EU and
NATA, well I have no doubts regarding that fact, especially since the EU
and NATO recently signed a declaration where they openly stated that we will be ensuring
the security of your European Union and the EU expressed recognition, and there was
also a statement to the extent that this would all be important for our billion
And that's that's it. Yeah, I got to say who I am,
I thank you, thank you very much, mister minister, And I know
I speak on behalf of all of us that when you're in New York,
we always happy to have you here answering questions from us, either the letter
from the Associated Press. UM, as you look ahead to the rest of
this year, what are your expectations for the state of peace and security in
the world. Do you see prospects for UM negotiations or an end to the
Ukraine conflict? To other conflicts? Yemen, Libya? Um, you set
Sudan? Um, what what are your hopes and expectations? Well, I'm
not paid for hopes and expectations. We have to tackle concrete goals and those
currently pertained primarily to ensuring the security of our country and preventing Russians, who
for centuries have been living next door to us, to be discriminated against an
exterminated physical exterminated as they publicly claimed by the Key of Regime, as the
Key of Regime officially proclaims itself. As for the rest, well, politics
are a special kind of beasts. In two thousand and three, some months
after the beginning of the unlawful war in Iraq, George Bush Junior announced that
democracy had one in Iraq in two thousand and three, and what are your
expectations from Iraq? Now? I had have no idea. The same goes
for Libya. When President Obama decided to lead from behind and put the Europeans
up front. Well, we saw another grave violation of a Security Council resolution
which only called for establishing a no flight zone to prevent Kadafi's aviation for flying,
and it was not flying, but then they went and bombed the whole
country. It now lies in ruins. And what Obama said about Russia has
now happened not to the economy of Russia but to a country called Libya.
And I hope that there will be progressed on Yemen since you mentioned Yemen,
and today I noted in my statement that we value the efforts made by Saudi
Arabia in this regard to establish direct dialogue. I won't even be guessing with
Ukraine. The issue is not that there's a certain timetable. Maybe in other
countries there are timetables. I remember on Libya again, France repeatedly called conferences
at which it was decided that the elections would be held in four years and
three months. And this was happening since twenty fifteen, and nothing has changed
in that regard. So we need to simply one must keep working on upholding
one's lawful of rights and doing this honestly, expliting one's motives, which is
exactly what we did regarding our actions as part of the Special military Operation,
and that we also wanted, in a spirit of reciprocity to hear the same
thing from our Western colleagues. What goals are they pursuing in Iraq, in
Libya and in other places where they are active in one way or another.
But one must remain optimistic this is all unavoidable. Although they do say that
a pessimist is a well informed optimist. I think that's how the same goes.
But nonetheless, we will hope that the attempt to unify efforts will prevent
prevail as well as the understanding that breaking up the global community into one billion
and seven billion is the wrong way to go. Placing one above others is
also wrong, no matter what traditions of aristocracy, of lords and other high
titles. This might be justified by we all live on the same planet,
and we spoke just now about our World World War. Who wants this?
Well, it seems that some are prepared to go to the end. If,
once again, to quote statements made by some, if Ukraine wins against
Russian, then we will avoid a third World War. Well, that's a
simple tidy idea that currently is replacing a normal conversation between responsible political figures.
I also wish you success in your work, your profession, which is very
important indeed, and once again appeal to you, given that there are a
fewer Russian journalists this time than that there could have been, to help compensate
for this lack in numbers by providing broad coverage of everything that you've heard for
us today. Thank you very much, Well, thank you for listening today.
You've been listening to policy rights here in Depictions Media Radio. I've been
your host, Michael Clogs, and please click on that subscribe button. This
show has been produced by Depictions Media. Please contact us at depictions dot media
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